Technique Blog Hop: Alcohol Markers

Welcome to our Technique Blog Hop!  This month we are highlighting the “Blending with Alcohol Markers” Technique as shown on page 55 in the Fall/Winter 2012 Idea Book!  This blog hop is a great big circle so you can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the fabulous artwork incorporating this technique. 

You will also find a listing of all participants and their blog addresses if you should get lost or want to reference a blog along the way.  If you are coming from Judy's Blog, you are on the right track.  Let’s get started!

Lately, I’ve been super busy and haven’t had time to craft.  It makes me so sad and I miss my crafting (a.k.a. stress reliever) so much.  Luckily, I had this blog hop to focus some attention on!  I’m super new to the whole alcohol & blending marker world.  So, I took things a little easy this month.  School has started back up (ya!) and I have kids who always need a bookmarker.  I cut the Colonial White cardstock at 7.5 x 1.5, inked the edges in Chocolate, and then glued it down to either a strip of Mischief paper (one of my all-time favs!) or Flirty paper.  Flirty isn’t exactly fall’ish, but the orange side of the paper worked well.   

Next, I broke out the StazOn and stamped my pumpkins from the Fall Favorites stamp set.  This stamp set is September’s Stamp of the Month and it is too dang cute!   I’ve learned that it is best to let the StazOn dry for several minutes before coloring with markers.  So, while the pumpkins were drying, I stamped “fall” in Autumn Terra Cotta ink and the words “into a good book” in Chocolate ink. 

The pumpkins were colored in the darker and lighter shades of Autumn Terra Cotta, while the stems, leaves, and grass where colored in the 2 tones of Ponderosa Pine.  For a finishing touch, I cut a 5 inch strip out of each color: Autumn Terra Cotta, Olive, and Chocolate Baker’s Twine.  I wound the Baker’s Twine together and looped through a small hole I made using a standard hole puncher.

I’d love to hear what you think of my easy – breezy bookmarks!  Leave a comment, then hop on over to Rachel's page to see what she has created this month.

Close To My Heart Shopping List:

Alcohol Blending Marker – Z1801

Autumn Terra Cotta Alcohol Marker – Z2427

Ponderosa Pine Alcohol Marker – Z2423

StazOn in Brown – Z1142

Autumn Terra Cotta Ink – Z2101

Chocolate Ink – Z2111

Harvest Baker’s Twine – Z1751

Baker’s Twine: Neutral Assortment – Z1701

Tiny Typewriter Alphabet Stamp Set – D1222

Fall Favorites Stamp Set – September Stamp of the Month – S1209

Bonding Memories Glue - 1512

Euro Personal Paper Trimmer – Z338

Microtip Scissors – Z534

My Acrylix Block 2x3 ½

My Acrylix Block 2x2

Colonial White paper - 1388

Flirty Paper Pack – X7160B

Mischief Paper Pack – retired

Standard hole puncher – office store/walmart

  Thank you for stopping by!

School is back in session

Well,  the first week of the new school year is over and I'm completely exhausted!  I am at the same school, but have a new position - Reading Helping Teacher.  I get to go around to all the different reading classes and help kids - how great is that?!  So far, I absolutely love it!

This week was also the start of college for me - no, I'm not going back to school.  Well, not actually.  I'm teaching college!!!  My first class was on 8/29 and I was a nervous wreck.  I get to teach a sophomore level psychology class - Human Growth & Development:  Lifespan.  The class is small and they are a great group.

Since I'm so tired and do not feel like cooking a great deal, I made up a huge batch of Cowboy Caviar.  I will be taking a scoop each day for my lunch to get in my veggies.   If you've never tried it, I've included the recipe below, so give it a try!

Cowboy Caviar

2   cans black-eyed peas, drained
2   cans corn, drained
2   cans Rotel tomatoes, drained
1   can diced black olives
1-2 jalapeno peppers  seeded & diced
4-6 small sweet peppers: yellow, orange, & red; seeded & diced
3-5 radishes, diced
3/4 of a zucchini, diced
1/2 lb mushrooms, diced as fine as possible
3/4 bunch cilantro, leaves removed & tossed in
20-30 baby carrots diced as small/fine as possible
1 onion, diced (can be yellow or red- your choice)
Salt & pepper to taste

These are the vegetables I generally put into my caviar, feel free to add things like celery, yellow squash, green peas, or whatever you like.  Most recipes also call for avocado.  Although I love avocado, I don't like it turning brown, so I never add it in to this dip. 

Once you have everything diced up and the cans well drained, put all of it in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.  The longer it stands, the better the flavors meld together.  This recipe can easily be halved or quartered to make a smaller batch. 

I use the caviar as a dip or on salads.  Extremely healthy and super delicious!  Hope you enjoy!